


patient is the day

by penonsense



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, takes place before insecurity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-09
Updated: 2014-11-09
Packaged: 2018-02-24 18:05:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2591114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/penonsense/pseuds/penonsense
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Okay, so it's not Artemis' fault that she shows up before anyone else. In other words, Artemis and Wally are 16 and awkward.</p>
            </blockquote>





	patient is the day

It's freezing. And it's not like Gotham where it’s more windy than anything and the sun still shines enough that your face is actually warm, at least for a while. Missouri, on the other hand, is too freaking cold. She has to cross her arms and run through the falling snow because it's a twenty minute walk to Kid's house and she wasn't about to slowly waddle through the six inches of hell snow on the ground. She curses out Wally for living in suburbia and she curses out Conner for suggesting movie night at Wally's house.

His house is at the end of a hill and she stomps her feet before she knocks on his door. It swings open, and he scares the hell out of her.

"Oh," he says, one hand on the door and the other holding a bag of chips. "Hey."

"Hi," Artemis crosses her arms again and shivers, the warmth escapes his house and hits her while her back is cold as hell. "C-can I-"

"Come in, yeah, yeah, come in," He lets her in. It's so nice and warm. "Just throw your jacket somewhere." He's watching her, not creepily or anything, just hanging to the side. He plays with the bag of chips, throwing it in the air or swinging it around. Artemis is surprised with how much self control he's showing.  
She nods and places her jacket and scarf over the coat hanger next to her and before she takes another step she freezes and begins to freak out- does his mom let people wear shoes in the house? She knows her mom hates it, but that's just her mom. Her boots are wet so wouldn't it actually be kind to take them off- and she has to calm down because it may be the first time she hung out at someone's home (besides the cave, which really doesn't count), but she's not gonna panic about something as simple as-

"You know you're the first person to come, right?"

Okay, she panics a little because in the end, she hasn't been alone with Wally ever and she's not scared of him or his house, she's just afraid she'll kill him and then she'll have to explain to his parent's what happened and she really doesn't want to have, "I killed your son," talk with a bunch of saints (they have to be saints. There's no way anyone could deal with Wally, even on a good day, without having some supernatural power of patience).

She takes off her boots in the end.

\--

They're in the kitchen and Wally's kitchen is the epitome of the phrase, "the heart of the home." Some of the cupboards are so stuffed that Artemis can see the doors are open a little. It smells like someone had been cooking all day even though everything on the counter is junk food and when Wally opens the fridge, it's freaking stuffed. Artemis knows that Wally spends a lot of time in here.

"Here," he holds out a cup of water, which she's been dying for since she got off the zeta-beam in Central. She takes it and drinks it within two 'sips'. "You walked here?"

"Ran."

His eyebrows furrowed, and she smiles slightly at that, "You could have called. I would have come and picked you up."

"You don't know how to drive," she counters. "What would you have done? Carried me here?"

"Done it before," he murmurs and she almost slams the cup down.

\---

It's so weird and silent and she's not used to it or him being quiet and it unnerves her so much and oh god, her toes are still cold as hell and she's not going to stand for this.

"Your house is nice," she says, more like blurts out because who in their right mind would say that? She's 16, not 34.

He raises an eyebrow at her and she thinks he's going to start teasing, but all he does is give her a grin. "Yeah, it's kind of my mom's dream house."

"Sorry that it's in the middle of nowhere. Missouri, of all places."

"Something wrong with Missouri?"

"I can name two things right now."

"Go ahead," he gestured for her to continue.

"You're in the middle of no where," she raises one finger, "in the mid west of all places! Please don't disappoint me and just tell me where your barn is-"

He laughs, and it's a belly laugh and so different from the snorts he usually gives. It makes her face feel hot, and it's not one of those normal things where she feels embarrassed or angry, it felt good. She won't ever admit it though.

"Okay, what else?"

She clears her throat and prepares herself, "It is so goddamn cold here. Wally, what the hell? How does anyone survive here? How do you survive here?"

"24/7 heating." She doesn't know about that, she never had the privilege, but she doesn't feel bitter about it, she just rolls her eyes. "And I'm kind of like a radiator... Or at least that's what my mom keeps calling me!"

"Bullshit-"

"No, seriously! Just, look-" he holds out his arm and she tentatively reaches forward, and touches his forearm before grabbing on.

Her eyes widen, "You're like burning."

"Yeah, I know," and it's like he's proud of it, "Some side effect of super speed."

"No wonder you don't need an extra lined snow suit," He nods. "Doesn't matter though 'cause isn't Missouri tractor land?"

He rolls his eyes at her, "you're talking about states more north."

"You sure?" She grins at him, "Listen, if you know how to drive one, you're gonna need to teach me. Might need it for a mission."

He can't help but grin back.

\---

He's setting everything up and tells her they're watching Labyrinth because it's a classic, and she quotes, "our poor teammates don't know great movies at all. We have to teach them."

She's looking around the living room, mostly at the pictures. He's an only child and his parent adore him and Artemis thinks he's a really cute elementary school kid. He had what seemed like seven hundred freckles on his face and she kind of feels upset they didn't stay as he got older.

"Did kids used to tease you, freckle face?" She calls out. She turns the picture frame in hand before setting it back on the shelf.

"Not as much as you," he answers from the kitchen.

Artemis sits on the couch and curls into a ball. No matter how warm the house is, and if it was any warmer she’s sure Wally would have hot flashes or something, she's still freezing and she once again, now in her head, curses Wally for living in Missouri.

He comes into the living room ten minutes later and he frowns at her. "Cold?"

"Yeah, I'm not exactly built for negative 10 degree weather," she says.

He runs, uses his super speed even though Artemis remembers him telling the team there's a no speed rule in his house when his parents aren't home, and comes back with a blanket. "Here, you'll be warm soon."

She just stares at him as he takes a seat on the couch next to her and before he catches her, she wraps the blanket around herself. "Thanks..."

They're once again in that silence, but it's not as weird as it was before.

"So farm boy-"

"You know, technically, you should call Supey that."

"Yeah, but Smallville is a big city-"

"I'll have you know that Central City is a large city, a lot larger than Star City," he's so matter of a fact it surprises Artemis that she doesn't want to hit him, instead she places her chin in her palm and watches him rant on without even saying anything.

\---

She meets his eyes twice during the movie. They're sitting on the larger couch, him on one side and her on the other, Kaldur got the unfortunate spot in the middle. M'gann and Conner are cuddling on the love seat while Robin has made himself comfortable on the floor in front of them, head propped in hand.

The first time it's his fault. She's too bored with David Bowie and when she turns to nudge Kaldur, who's too busy enamored by movie magic to look at her, she sees Wally kind of side-eyeing her. They stare at each other for three seconds she breaks it off first. The second time, it's twenty minutes afterwards, right when the credits were rolling and she sneaks a peek. He's gently kicking Robin and telling a joke, probably a corny one, when he catches her staring and they both look right away. Artemis hopes no one notices, even though Kaldur gives her a raised eyebrow at her fidgety behavior.

Artemis almosts clutches the blanket Wally gave her and she is getting a little too warm, but it smells like really good and it smells just like him and she drops it after realizing that she basically thinks Wally smells good.

She gets up and heads to the bathroom to cool off and get back to normal. His house is messing with her head and she doesn't appreciate it.

\---

"Ah, thanks for coming," he says to her because she's second to last to leave (Robin is staying more. Probably couldn't leave his BFF after only a couple of hours. Weirdo). She's at his doorway putting on her shoes and she stumbles forward, but regains composure quickly. She glances at him and notices he’s rubbing the back of his head, and she needs to get the hell out of there.

"Oh, no problem... We should do it again," that’s the right thing to say, right? "Maybe next time you can teach me how to ride a tractor."

He laughs that same warm laugh and she almost runs out.

M'gann is kind enough to give her a ride to the zeta-beam, but she doesn't think she would have been cold walking and that scares her.


End file.
